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Monday, March 2, 2015

Short and Tweet Review: Positively Beautiful by Wendy Mills

Positively Beautiful by Wendy Mills

Jodi Picoult for teens meets Lurlene McDaniel. Beautiful written, beautifully moving, a vivid contemporary story of a girl’s unusual but terrible dilemma - and the love story that springs from it.
16-year-old Erin is a smart if slightly dorky teenager, her life taken up with her best friend Trina, her major crush on smoky-eyed, unattainable Michael, and fending off Faith, the vision of perfection who’s somehow always had the knife in for Erin. Her dad, a pilot, died when she was very young, but Erin and her mom are just fine on their own.
Then everything changes forever one day after school when Erin’s mom announces she has breast cancer. And there’s even worse news to come. Horrified, Erin discovers that her grandmother’s death from cancer is almost certainly linked, the common denominator a rare gene mutation that makes cancer almost inevitable. And if two generations of women in the family had this mutation, what does that mean for Erin? The chances she’s inherited it are frighteningly high. Would it be better to know now and have major preemptive surgery or spend as much life as she has left in blissful ignorance?
As Erin grapples with her terrible dilemma, her life starts to spiral downwards, alleviated only by the flying lessons she starts taking with grumpy Stew and his little yellow plane, Tweetie Bird. Up in the sky, following in her dad’s footsteps, Erin finds freedom chasing the horizon. Down on the ground it’s a different story, and facing betrayal from Trina, humiliation from Faith, and a world of disappointment with Michael, Erin knows she must discover the truth about herself. Sure enough, she’s positive for the gene that’s slowly killing her mom.
Suddenly, Erin’s life has turned into a nightmare, and the only person she can truly talk to is a girl called Ashley who she meets online. But when, in a moment of madness, Erin flies away with Tweetie Pie to find her new friend, she finds herself on a journey that will take her through not only shock and despair - but ultimately to a new understanding of the true meaning of beauty, meaning, and love.

This was on my radar because I adore Lurlene McDaniel and like some of Picoult's books and the comparison drew me in,

Karen at For What It's Worth and Mary at The Book Swarm occasionally post twitter-style reviews. Karen calls hers Short and Tweet, and I am going to borrow that review style here.

Tweet (longer) Review:

It took me a bit to get into this one. The first part seemed to b be focused on her best friend and her big personality but I wanted to connect with Erin though. To know what she was about. It transitioned quickly to being about her mom's cancer. So I began to get the emotional aspect, but still not really knowing Erin. Finally I got to see more of who she was and exploring the tough issue of a sick mom, and the possibility of the same thing with her over her head.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Would you want to know if you had a cancer gene?

Whilst I do like Jodi Picoult, Lurlene McDaniel isn't an author I'm familiar with. Definitely a book I'll keep a look out for.

With regards to wanting to know if I had a cancer gene. That would all depend on whether or not there was something I could do about it. Thinking about the breast cancer gene, yes I'd want to know as then I'd have the option of a mastectomy.

I don't know if this is the book for me, but nice tweet review. For me, I would like to know if had a cancer gene ... that way I could be as prepared as possible for what's to come. I've had several extended family members with cancer and although you can't prepare for everything, I personally would be somewhat comforted--maybe get treatments early on if the gene caused the cancer to grow.

when you read books like this one that deal with such strong and sensitive subjects it's important to feel a one on one connection with the characters or else these types of books fall flat. I'm sorry this one couldn't be more impacting for you Brandi!

I've read so many cancer books in the last year, I need a breather, so I didn't put this one on my TBR pile.

Glad to hear it didn't blow you away, so I don't have to feel bad about not reading it. I think I would want to know if I had the cancer gene, because there are precautions you can take, so I think it would be helpful.

It seems like a shame that we never really get to know the main character properly throughout this book, so we cant get that connection we might be looking for! But it does still sound like an emotional read.

Interesting to read your thoughts. I haven't read it, but I have read some books by Jodi Picoult. The tweet style review was fun. :) I am not sure if I would want to know if I had the gene. I guess it would depend on what I would gain from knowing (besides being worried).

I'd definitely want to know! That way I could make sure I was living life and throwing caution to the wind. I wouldn't want to go about in the 'everyday' living a mundane existence if I could die at any point

My mom died of cancer and I always worry about it but I'm not sure I would want to know about the gene. We're all probably predisposed to a lot of different diseases and it might paralyze you with fear instead of living life.

I would love to hear from you! (I always try to visit your blog back) I love links, so feel free to link to your blog or a post you like. Sorry, but I am award and tag free zone, I do not have the time to return. Comments are reward enough :)

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Welcome!

I am Brandi Kosiner and this is my personal book blog. I am a 30-something stay-at-home mom to two girls. I love going to Disney, playing video and board games with my husband. I love Young Adult books, with a focus on paranormal romance, fantasy, dystopia and contemporary, especially dealing with illnesses, tough issues such as cutting, eating disorders, issues at home, etc.

Feel free to contact me.with any questions or comments. I love to hear from you!

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